Growing love - by Shell

Jug - by Shell

Audrey & Daisy Sail Origami Boats - by Shell

Audrey and Daisy loved to fold paper origami boats. Even more than this, they wished for rain so they could revel in racing their creations down swollen gutters.

* inspired by Debski *

Elephant in pink - by Shell

Audrey in the Rain - by Shell

When feeling wistful, Audrey liked to stand outside and feel the raindrops on her face.

Three flowers - by Shell

The cut out I've been working on is too huge to lay out and snip at just for a few hours, so I wanted to create something smaller to share on SK sooner (I've been trying hard to resist the urge to post pics of my unfinished cutout!). Yesterday I discovered a nearby giant craft store and stocked up on all manner of unneccessary luxuries. I spent hours browsing the aisles, soaking up ideas and marvelling at the variety of crafts to be created. Bliss! A few of the items I couldn't leave without were a pad of heavily textured watercolour paper and a pack of black Faber Castell pens ranging from very thin to brush size. They inspired this mini watercolour. Since I love snail mail I've turned this pic into a postcard to fly over the seas soonest.

Summer Flowers - by Shell

Autumn (still evolving...)

So, autumn evolves with my artwork. Today we had brilliant sunshine with cool, fresh air. Our trees are gradually turning, though mostly they're still green. This cut out I experimented with making a series...well, a series of two! I stapled two pieces of paper together and did my cut out as usual. Hey presto at the end I had two! So exciting! I don't think I could do more than two as the paper gets too thick to cut easily. Still, 'tis twice the fun this way! Next step is paint, so watch this space for a few finito cut outs to be shared x

Autumn (the evolution of...)

Another image still under the knife! Autumn is here in our northern hemisphere, cooling our air, colouring our trees, and prompting a flurry of animal activity in preparation for the cold snap of winter. We have layered an extra blanket on our bed and donned our scarves. 'Tis gorgeous seeing the trees turn, especially along the tree-lined villiage roads a way out of the city. So this wonderful change inspired my latest cut out. I drew in quite a bit of detail for this one, so it's taking me many hours to cut away. A lesson in patience. Still, I thought I'd share my journey with you all. Watch this space as Autumn continues to evolve... x

Monsieur Pieta

Meet Monsieur Pieta. He found me on a train journey westwards this weekend. In his long life he has been blessed with many amazing adventures. In the villiage where he used to live, he was revered and often visited for advice and ideas by younger folk. In his youth he was headstrong and got up to quite a bit of mischief. Perhaps one day he will tell me of his experiences and let me paint them into a storybook for little ones to read...

Summer flowers - by Shell

Here's a sneek peek at my latest cut out...inspired by our beautiful english summer wildflowers

Love bird in a tree - by Shell

another small cut out to stick on the front of a card.

Day dreaming - by Shell

I recently discovered these little double-sided-sticky foam squares. They're great as I can use them to stick mini cut outs to the front of cards. They emphasise the cut out by sitting off the page a little bit. Here's my first attempt. I love snail mail (both sending and receiving it!) so this card will be popped in the post really soon... x

Cake topper - by Shell

Here are some pics of my cake topper on the cake (thanks Shan). The cake was divine and was made by Shan's mother in law...mmm, rich chocolate...

Paper beads - by Shell

I discovered the world of paper beads at a little local church-hall-flea-market a few months back. A woman was selling paper beads hand made by women in Uganda (Hope Beads), with all the money raised going back to them in their community. Curious, I did a little googling and stumbled on this fantastic site... http://www.paperbeads.org/ ...complete with tutorials. The beads made by Janice are just beautiful and well worth a look. Having a go at making my own has given me an appreciation for just how skillful and patient she is; she makes it look so easy in the video-tutorial. So here is a picture of my first attempt, a work in progress at the moment. So far I've cut my paper strips from newspaper and rolled about half of them up. I liked the idea of using newspaper, with the thought that each bead carries it's own story in more ways than one. What would make this stage a lot easier is having a ruler the length of your paper...some of mine ended up a little wongly! Next is the process of lacquering and re-lacquering, then stringing them into some sort of wearable creation. Check back for an update soonest...

Cake topper - by Shell

I was honoured when Shan asked me to make the cake topper for her wedding earlier this year. I decided to experiment with a 3D cut out and here's the result...It looked pretty cool atop their amazing 3-tier chocolate cake, if I do say so myself! ^_^

I'd love to play with more of these, so if you know of anyone getting married soon who wants a cut out cake topper, get them in touch with me... x

Laughter - by Shell

Here's a little painting I did a while ago but forgot to post. I discovered it today as I opened my watercolour book. I have happy memories of singing 'ring-a-ring-a-rosy' with my sisters and falling to the floor in fits of giggles.

Natural beauty

On a recent visit to Cornwall I found myself stunned by the wealth of unique flowers dotting the hedges and fields. All shapes, sizes, and a kaleidoscope of colours. Beautiful!

We also paid a visit to the Eden Project and I marvelled anew at their vast variety of blooming beauties. Wow. Nature is amazing huh?! I plan to integrate these into my cut outs eventually, but for now here are a few of the photos I took for inspiration.

What flowers are in your local area? What's inspiring you at the moment?

When I grow up I want to be a detective - by Shell

When I was really little I wanted to be a detective. I got a detective kit for my birthday and collected and investigated all sorts of things. My most exciting find was a rusty tin from over the back fence. It had been burnt and had some papers inside. I came up with all sorts of theories about it's past owners and their dark secrets!

In the kitchen - by Shell

For me, being in the kitchen means love and creativity. Good dishes take time and for me and my sweet Luke are always made with a pinch of love. Pies were a specialty for us at one stage and this is possibly the best pie we've ever made. My special talent was decorating, whilst Luke makes killer pastry. It was a peach pie and shared with dear friends Patrick and Belinda. Food always tastes better when shared with friends I think.